Term limits just don’t seem to stop an aspiring dictator. Hugo Chávez simply decided to eliminate them in Venezuela. In Russia, Vladimir Putin has found another way around the prohibitions against him running for a third term as president:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that suggestions he could head a future government as a prime minister were “realistic”.
Speaking at a congress of the main pro-Kremlin force, United Russian, Putin also announced he would head the party’s list for December’s parliamentary elections, guaranteeing him a place in the Duma (lower house of parliament).
